


The Book of Love

by avespika



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 17:16:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7472514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avespika/pseuds/avespika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clara accidentally proposes to the Doctor. Twice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Book of Love

‘I’m against the hugging’ had become embraces initiated by the Doctor and the occasional pecks on the cheek were exchanged for gentle kisses good night. He still wasn’t Clara’s boyfriend but she was comfortable with the ambiguity between them. She knew she loved him and he cared for her in whatever way he could, even if he used different words.

One quiet evening she found him reading on the sofa in the library, cozy in his plaid pajamas and hole-ridden jumper. She pulled a book off a shelf at random and sat down next to him.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“It’s only mid-evening my time. I don’t need that much sleep.”

“I’ll make sure to remind you of that next time you complain about me waking you up.”

“No nebula is interesting enough to pull my blankets off at three in the morning and yell ‘emergency.’”

“It was an emergency! I’d discovered a nebula emitting a sound exactly like a Ford Popular.”

“Cards.”

The Doctor withdrew a stack of index cards from his pocket. “Let’s see here… ‘I shouldn’t have turned your lipstick into an incendiary device?’ No, that can’t be right. ‘It was wrong not to tell you that smiling on this planet will get you doused with cold water?’” Clara shook her head. “‘Sorry I mistook your child for a Zygon’…‘I understand now that that was a religious festival, not an act of war’…oh, this is the one. ‘I will try to be more respectful of your human emotions and habits, Clara.’ I see you’ve folded over the corner on that one.”

“Well, I thought you might like to be able to find your most frequently used card quickly.”

“Fair point.” The Doctor shifted, laying down with his head in Clara’s lap. “What are you reading, anyway?”

Clara buried her left hand in the Doctor’s hair, massaging his scalp absentmindedly as she examined the book in her other hand. “I picked it up without looking.” Clara looked at the book’s cover and read the title out loud. “The Gallifreyan Book of Love. Is this some lurid tale of your species’ mating habits?” The book certainly had her interest now.

“Don’t be vulgar. It’s a long and boring cultural artifact. I’m surprised I still have a copy and even more surprised it’s been condensed enough you can lift it off the shelf. There have been so many editions over the years that the complete edition must be several million pages long.”

“But what’s it about?”

“Lots of things. Love between married partners. But also devotion between friends, affection between colleagues, care between parents and children, even a section on passion between bitter enemies. Not to mention all the works of music and art about those subjects. It’s meant to be a complete cultural anthology, the definitive work on the subject.”

Clara’s heart sank. Gallifreyans did use the word ‘love’ to describe their emotions. The Doctor’s reasons for never telling her he loved her must be personal, not cultural. Still, best to learn as much as she could before jumping to conclusions.  “Sounds interesting to me.”

The Doctor chuckled. “If you insist. It could never hold my attention.”

Clara opened to the first page and began to read. Lots of facts and figures about marriage rates, charts of different relationships between social tiers. The Doctor might actually be right about this book, it was dull so far. On the next page was a moving illustration of a group of people engaged in an elaborate dance.

“What’s this?” she lowered the book so he could see.

“The paper isn’t actually paper, it’s essentially a collection of nano-replicators. Self-updating and detailed enough to create moving pictures like that, and even small objects.”

“Not the technology, the dance.”

“Oh that? It’s an antiquated thing, a dance young Timelords and Timeladies would do at formal Academy events.”

“I didn’t think your people were dancers.”

“Almost all people are. Most cultures have dancing as a form of social bonding. Even some animals.”

Yet he hadn’t danced with her on the Orient Express or at any of the dozen or so space galas they’d attended. This book was bad for her mental health, she ought to put it down. But she read on, discovering more about Gallifreyan friendship poetry, the naming ceremonies for children, and the traditions around holiday gift giving.

Eventually her left hand rose to help support the book. “You’ve stopped the petting, I liked the petting,” the Doctor protested from her lap.

“Hang on a minute, this part is interesting. I’ve never seen Gallifreyan music before.” She poured over the odd notation and illustrations of instruments. “What’s it like?”

“It varies like anything else. Some of it is absolutely sublime. A lot of it is idiotic.”

“Why don’t you ever play it?”

The Doctor blinked up at her. “The guitar isn’t particularly well suited to it. And I like the guitar.”

“Right.” A universe of love songs and he mostly played Pink Floyd covers. This shouldn’t be upsetting her as much as it did. Maybe she wasn’t above being hurt by her alien not-boyfriend after all. The next section dealt with ceremonial objects, including children’s cots, family coats of arms, and TARDIS decorations.

Clara turned another page and a cascade of red flowers poured out from between the pages and into the Doctor’s face. “What did you do that for?!”

“Sorry, I didn’t know it was going to do that.”

The Doctor stood. “I’m going,” he grumbled, brushing a shower of red petals onto the floor.

Now he was annoyed about the flowers. Meanwhile, she was bothered that he clearly had little real romantic interest in her as he wasn’t following any of his culture’s practices. What a way to end the evening. Clara sighed and turned the page again.

Two round objects clinked together and tumbled out of the book and onto the floor. She closed the book and dropped to her knees, searching among the petals for the lost items. With her luck they were tiny explosives or something. It took ages but eventually she found one, an odd ring with circular Gallifreyan writing on the outside and little gears inside. She spun one of the gears and found it altered the script on the outside. A distant creaking told her the other ring was moving as well. She found it wedged between the sofa cushions.

Clara was fascinated by the rings, her concerns about her relationship with the Doctor pushed aside for the moment. She spent the next few minutes kneeling on the ground watching as the movement she made with one ring effected the other. The rings might make a handy communication device, if they worked over any distance. The Doctor didn't carry a mobile and half the time their mishaps boiled down to a simple inability to talk while taking care of separate tasks across whatever asteroid, ship, or space station they were stuck on that day. She wondered if she might learn enough Gallifreyan to make the rings useful.

The Doctor stepped through the door. “Clara, I’m sorry I left so abruptly, do I need to get one of my cards? Anyway, I brought you some tea.”

Clara Oswald knelt on the floor before him, surrounded by flower petals, holding up two rings. The cup and saucer rattled in his hand. “Doctor, do you think-?”

“Clara, don’t,” he said, voice rough.

“Don’t whatr?”

“Don’t do…that.”

“Do what?” Clara looked around her. Oh. Oh, this was not what it looked like. She felt her face flush and her heart hammer. “I didn’t mean…”

“Of course you didn’t.”

“I’ll just-”

“No, let me.” He set the tea on the coffee table and helped her to her feet. They sat at opposite ends of the sofa, both looking straight ahead.

“I had dropped them…I wanted to ask was whether those communicator rings work across distances. It would be really useful when we’re off exploring.”

“They do.”

She held a ring out to him. “We should wear them.”

He took the ring, his voice shaky. “Clara Oswald, I-”

“I know, not really a hugger, certainly not a dancer, probably not a jewelry person either-”

“Clara.” He scooted closer, took her hand, and met her gaze. “Do you know what you just did?”

“Care to fill me in?”

“Well, I’m reasonably certain that you know you proposed marriage to me in your way. And I’m absolutely sure you did it in mine.”

“What?”

“Offering a ring while on your knees is the human way, right? And as you’ve learned, Gallifreyans do it by offering a set of what you called ‘communicator rings,’ which work across time and space.” He shook his head. “It’s fine, it’s fine.”

Her head ached and she was nauseous. They sat in silence for a moment, then the Doctor lifted her hand and gently kissed it. “It’s just that I always thought I’d get to be the one to surprise you. But I should have known, my impossible girl.”

The ache migrated from her head to her chest as her heart raced. “Known what?”

“That Clara Oswald is completely in charge of her romantic destiny and when she's ready to get married she’ll make it known, damn any intentions I had of talking to her father and gran first.”

Wait. Was he accepting a proposal she hadn’t even intended to make? She looked up at him, wide-eyed.

“I don’t think I need a card for this next apology. I’m sorry I didn’t say yes when I saw you doing it the human way. It’s just that I’d planned to be the one to do it.” He smiled. Clara couldn’t bring herself to speak. “But what’s done is done.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, followed by her lips. She felt a crash of confusion and affection as she nipped at his lower lip. He kissed down her neck, then pulled away. “So, who should we tell first? I was thinking your dad, and then maybe we’ll pop over to Vastra and Jenny’s. I have to admit I was nervous planning the proposal, that’s why it’s taken me so long.”

“How would you propose- you’ve never even said you love me!”

“I haven’t? I suppose I haven’t. Well, Gallifreyans usually reserve that word for betrothed couples, they use other words for love between other relationships. I figured you’d read all that by now.”

“I didn’t read anything about this, the rings fell out of the book before I could get to that part. You walked in on me searching for them.”

“You didn’t know they were wedding bands?”

“I had no idea.”

“Wait. Technically neither one of us has proposed to the other?” They exchanged a bewildered look.

They both dropped to their knees and held up the rings they were holding.

“Doctor, will you?”

“Clara, will you?”

“Yes.”


End file.
